abc.net.au/news/nt-contractors-accuse-tamboran-of-using-contaminated-water/102765872Two workers allege they were told to keep spraying contaminated drill rig water around a gas fracking site in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin, despite the gas company knowing the fluid was contaminated.
"It was nearly a metre too high, and they were freaking out that rains were coming at the beginning of the wet," he said.Tamboran reported to the NT government the dam level was lowered by pumping the drilling water from it into a fresh water dam being used to damp down dust on the site and access roads.
"I was told to just continue to wet the roads, wet the camp, wet the drill pad, just keep on going until the pump couldn't pick up any more, for about three, four, five days," he said."And I'm here to tell the truth; if they had have told the truth from the start I wouldn't be here sitting talking to you."Frank said he is now worried about whether there could be health impacts for site workers.
"We had pre-start meetings in the morning where it was brought up, but we were under direction from Tamboran to keep spraying it," he said. Professor Melissa Haswell, who studies the impacts of gas and fracking operation chemicals at the University of Sydney, said it was unclear what chemicals would have been in the drill dam water during the time of the incident.